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How Does FaceTime Work?

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Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#151

Post by fitzroy »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #146
miki123211 wrote: post #100

> For those of you old enough to remember landlines, it reminds me of those [...] When we all switched to cell service audio quality took a huge hit As a blind person with a lot of friends in different corners of the world, audio quality is very important to me. Surprisingly enough, I've seen side projects that took a weekend to develop that had much better quality than what mainstream services offer. Part of it is p…

> but I guess effects (like cancelling echos from participants who use speakers instead of headphones, or reducing noise from crappy mics) also play a role. I wonder if there is a market for a meeting app that has the best quality of them all, by not trying to poorly work around bad environments, but simply booting people out of meetings until they fix their setup. Yes, it would suck if you or someone you really need…

I wonder if a motivator would be requiring push-to-talk from those people. Better yet: disallowing any beautification filters.

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#152

Post by camgunz »

I'm a little irritated by all the normative assessments of the A/V quality of various communication software. I'm sure we can test latency, audio fidelity, and video fidelity in a useful way without resorting to super useful comments like " audio is the standard to beat" and " works fine as well".

I'd legit pay money for a Consumer Reports around Google Meet, Jitsi, Zoom, and FaceTime. Load up a LAN with a packet loss/jitter simulator and gimme some charts.

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#153

Post by Wowfunhappy »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #146
miki123211 wrote: post #100

> For those of you old enough to remember landlines, it reminds me of those [...] When we all switched to cell service audio quality took a huge hit As a blind person with a lot of friends in different corners of the world, audio quality is very important to me. Surprisingly enough, I've seen side projects that took a weekend to develop that had much better quality than what mainstream services offer. Part of it is p…

> but I guess effects (like cancelling echos from participants who use speakers instead of headphones, or reducing noise from crappy mics) also play a role. I wonder if there is a market for a meeting app that has the best quality of them all, by not trying to poorly work around bad environments, but simply booting people out of meetings until they fix their setup. Yes, it would suck if you or someone you really need…

I spend 70% of Zoom meetings with "Original Sound" enabled. I have a good microphone and I want to be as easy to hear as possible.

However, I also have an air conditioner. You can hear it. I try to keep it turned off during meetings, but sometimes it's just too hot. and so Original Sound goes off and the air conditioner goes on.

What else am I supposed to do? Leave the meeting?

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#154

Post by skygazer »

caddybox wrote: post #61
sgt wrote: post #3

FaceTime is amazing. I keep in touch with my entire family using FaceTime video, often across thousands of kilometers. It's also such an equalizer, allowing even the non-computer literate to use it and focus on the actual conversations. In fact, my 103 year old grandmother is able to do video calls with me, which is great because I rarely see her in person these days. I don't think there exists an alternative she wou…

I think it is unfair to label a platform with a two hundred dollar entry barrier as an equalizer. VoIP and allied technologies are the real enablers and ad-supported platforms like WhatsApp et al. have been true equalizers by allowing anyone to communicate with anyone at marginal costs. The ease of picking up the phone and calling somebody with no consideration of cost has enabled so many people to connect and commun…

Certainly, equality is an overloaded term, so it's useful to note the context. He's not talking about economic equality. He's talking about bringing a simplified interface to an otherwise complex and confusing process, particularly for his elderly relative. Different people will suffer from the existence of different barriers. It doesn't have to be a competition.

What Apple does to simplify things (prioritize simplicity and accessibility, obsessively remove or hide options, make reasonable defaults, broaden the happy-path) can be replicated on more affordable platforms.

That said, I've struggled to teach my elderly mother how to even answer her iPhone -- she finds it overly complicated. If she could get over the technical hurdle, she could stay in better touch with remote family and friends who now prefer texting and video calls to snail mail and begin to alleviate her loneliness.

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#155

Post by FireBeyond »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #153
tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I guess effects (like cancelling echos from participants who use speakers instead of headphones, or reducing noise from crappy mics) also play a role. I wonder if there is a market for a meeting app that has the best quality of them all, by not trying to poorly work around bad environments, but simply booting people out of meetings until they fix their setup. Yes, it would suck if you or someone you really need…

I spend 70% of Zoom meetings with "Original Sound" enabled. I have a good microphone and I want to be as easy to hear as possible. However, I also have an air conditioner. You can hear it. I try to keep it turned off during meetings, but sometimes it's just too hot. and so Original Sound goes off and the air conditioner goes on. What else am I supposed to do? Leave the meeting?

Try Krisp. Local ML noise reduction. Cancels out my AC, mechanical keyboard and even my dog, while people say my audio sounds amazing.

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#156

Post by what_ever »

sgt wrote: post #122
LivelyTortoise wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there anything that sets FaceTime apart from cheaper competitors like WhatsApp / Signal video calling in this aspect of ease of use? (I say cheaper because you don't need to buy an iDevice to use those)

Definitely easier to use than any of the alternatives. An intuitive video calling system should do just that: video (and/or audio), not chat. Firstly; she has not heard of WhatsApp, it would have to be taught to her that it is a chat app that has additional functionality to allow phone and video calls. Blank stare. She does not chat and has no interest in doing that. The UI of WhatsApp is confusing and unintuitive if…

There is Google Duo that just does video calling.

> Firstly; she has not heard of WhatsApp

I am pretty sure she had not heard of FaceTime as well before you introduced it to her? :)

Disc: Googler.

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#157

Post by sgt »

benhurmarcel wrote: post #129
sgt wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trust me, you don't want to put family on Android. My mother started out with Android (to save money), and she never even fully understood how the bottom buttons worked. I became the customer care. Now she's on iPhone and there's no support burden. Phew.

You don’t usually get to choose what devices people buy. All my family is on Android simply because they’re not interested enough in tech to spend triple the price on an Apple device, and there’s nothing I can say to make them spend that much.

Fair enough, but often family members will go to you for advice. So based on your advice, you'll also get the support calls :-)

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#158

Post by sgt »

what_ever wrote: post #156
sgt wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely easier to use than any of the alternatives. An intuitive video calling system should do just that: video (and/or audio), not chat. Firstly; she has not heard of WhatsApp, it would have to be taught to her that it is a chat app that has additional functionality to allow phone and video calls. Blank stare. She does not chat and has no interest in doing that. The UI of WhatsApp is confusing and unintuitive if…

There is Google Duo that just does video calling. > Firstly; she has not heard of WhatsApp I am pretty sure she had not heard of FaceTime as well before you introduced it to her? :) Disc: Googler.

Yeah, definitely some training is needed for that age group. It will be easier for you and me when we grow to be 100+ years old. She clicks on the green symbol that shows a video camera, maybe that helps to recognize. I am sure Google Duo would have an understandable icon as well, so you raise a good point.

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#159

Post by sgt »

andrecarini wrote: post #147
sgt wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does average monthly salary mean much if the majority is really poor? Assuming you are middle class, here. Also: you probably mean iPhone 12. The 6 is quite old. I remember my 6 very well as I fell on my motorcycle and I pulled this banana shaped phone out of my pocket.

> Also: you probably mean iPhone 12. The 6 is quite old I definitely meant the 6. Minimum monthly wage (formal jobs, before taxes): R$1100 New iPhone 6: R$1700 ~ R$2400 New iPhone 12: R$7700 ~ R$10000 > Does average monthly salary mean much if the majority is really poor? For those poor and outside the formal job market, buying a new iPhone (even the older ones) are out of reach or a very significant investment.

Off topic... but Brazil is such a wonderful country with great people. The insane import taxes are not fair and I don't think it helps the economy - rather the opposite.

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#160

Post by junon »

miki123211 wrote: post #100

> For those of you old enough to remember landlines, it reminds me of those [...] When we all switched to cell service audio quality took a huge hit As a blind person with a lot of friends in different corners of the world, audio quality is very important to me. Surprisingly enough, I've seen side projects that took a weekend to develop that had much better quality than what mainstream services offer. Part of it is p…

Have you tried Signal? Say what you want about the philosophies and the deteriorating app quality but the call audio quality has always been superb (assuming the connection holds).
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